Mindo, Ecuador - Day 2
Tuesday, January 18
Our second full day in Mindo today & we had a special activity planned. Andi arranged for us to go zip lining with Mindo Canopy Tours. Before we left the house this morning, Meri the housekeeper came to make us breakfast. The owner of the airbnb told us yesterday that Meri was worried we weren’t eating enough at breakfast, so she made a special trip to the grocery store for bread to make the kids happy. What a thoughtful gesture, but really this wasn’t the case — 3/4 of us loved the bolones she served (the fried green plantain balls with cheese) which in my “mom life” cooking experience are pretty good odds! It’s just that Aden does not like cheese.
This morning, Meri made us toast with fresh butter and raspberry jam on the side, farm-fresh scrambled eggs, mango, papaya, and dragon fruit. As expected, Tory and Aden were thrilled with toast and gobbled up several pieces.
After breakfast, we hopped in a taxi and drove to the location of Mindo Canopy Tours located on the other side of Mindo. Ziplining was on Aden’s Mindo bucket list, so we were glad to make it happen for him. It’s an adventurous activity that we all enjoy. We’ve got ziplinning as a family twice before in Costa Rica.
The canopy tour company was just opening for business when we arrived at 9:00am, so we waited around for 15 minutes or so until they got everything in order. A trio of French travelers joined our group so there were 7 of us in total, plus two canopy guides.
Andi and I were amazed how inexpensive the zip lining was! It cost $20/per person and included 10 runs. We didn’t feel like the quality or our safety was compromised by the low price in any way.
I was proud of Aden who stepped right up to the front of the line on the first run. He was ready to sail across the treetops! I have to admit, I had some nervous butterflies in my tummy as the guide hooked my harness to the cable. I convinced myself to be brave and go for it (and really, I had no choice as my family were all waiting for me on the other side of the valley). I’m not sure what I was so nervous about; I’ve zip lining numerous times! Once I had the first run under my belt, it was smooth sailing and so much fun.
Aden was having the time of his life! He is a thrill seeker and enjoys pushing the edge. When the tour guide asked if anyone wanted to ride upside down, Aden was first in line to try it.
In all, we did 10 ziplines over the tops of the Mindo Cloud Forest. It’s such a neat perspective to see the tree canopy from the top & whiz through the trees. Totally worth it! There was a bit of an uphill hike between each zip line platform which was tough to do wearing heavy harnesses — especially for Tory and Aden. They did great, though & didn’t complain a bit. At one of the platforms, we even saw two toucans in the trees!
Afterwards, all four of us were hot and sweaty. Our plan was to grab lunch in town before heading back to the airbnb for an afternoon of work & school, but it was only 10:30am and none of us were very hungry yet. We decided to stop at Mindo Forest Coffee & Tea Cafe for a quick pick-me-up. Andi ordered an espresso for himself, milkshakes for the kids and two slices of cake to share. Chocolate overload! Tory and Aden are loving that every place in town offers homemade milkshakes.
The stray dogs roaming the streets of Mindo leave something to be desired though. These seem to follow us wherever we go & joined us at our table as we were finishing up our cake and milkshakes. Tory started to panic, of course, so we quickly left after paying the bill and decided to walk around town for a bit.
We stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some itch cream for Tory and I. Our legs took a beating from mosquito bites during our hike in the cloud forest yesterday.
None of us were that hungry, but we decided to eat lunch at El Cheff before it was time to go back to our airbnb. We’d heard good things about this restaurant. Andi and I ordered the typical Ecuadorian lunch plates — he had a pork chop with his and I ordered grilled chicken, Aden ordered wings and Tory ordered her usual cheeseburger. We can’t get over how enormous the portions are here for such little money! Tory’s hamburger was huge and it cost $4. She was concerned we’d make her eat it all since we’re always getting on her about buying food that she never ends up eating.
One thing I love about the food in Ecuador is that everything is fresh — Tory’s hamburger was homemade and had so much flavor. The daily lunch plates are simple with meat, rice, mixed vegetables and French fries.
All the doors of restaurants and stores are wide open, so stray dogs wander in & out and wherever else they please around town. Of course, a big, stinky dog came into the restaurant and stood right under our table while we were trying to eat. Tory was freaking out, practically standing on her chair to get as far away from him as possible. Andi and I tried to shoo it away without success, until we caught the attention of the restaurant waiter who squirted hand sanitizer at the dog until it ran outside.
I feel for Tory and understand that she’s scared, but there's also nothing I can do about all these stray dogs in town… or any of the other stray dogs that seem to roam the streets in Latin American towns. They aren’t going away, so we’ve got to find a make Tory feel comfortable without making a spectacle wherever we go. Andi suggested we start walking in a “Tory triangle” with two of us in front, one in back, and Tory in the middle of us. That way, we can protect Tory from any stray dogs that cross our path on the street. That made Tory smile.
We spent the rest of Tuesday afternoon at the airbnb doing work & school. It’s good timing anyway, since the rain starts in Mindo every afternoon around 1:30pm. Today was a good test to see how well it’ll work to have Andi on calls in the same space as the rest of us.
Andi finished his calls around 5:30pm, and then we headed back into Mindo to grab dinner. We haven’t been to town after dark yet, so it was neat to see it in a new light. Andi found a falafel place that he wanted to try, so we stopped the first to put in a to-go food order. Tory and Aden said they weren’t very hungry, so we grabbed them some noodles and a loaf of bread at the mini market in case they got hungry later.
After our falafels meals were ready, we hailed a taxi back to the airbnb. We ate while watching another episode of Heartland on Netflix together.
Tomorrow is our last day in Mindo & it’s a longer work day for Andi. That means, we’ll do a longer school day as well. I’m going to try a modified school schedule with the kids on this trip where we’ll adventure more on Mondays/Thursdays/Fridays and do the bulk of our schooling on Tuesdays/Wednesdays to mirror Andi’s work schedule. We’ll see how it goes since Tory and Aden are used to doing a little bit of school everyday.
